KWADUKUZA - KwaZulu-Natal Premier Thami Ntuli has promised that police will not rest until there's justice for the Monswamy family.
This is what Ntuli told mourners at the funeral of seven family members killed on Tuesday night.
They were robbed and kidnapped before being shot and stabbed, with their bodies dumped in Melmoth.
"I want to assure the family and the community that every available resource is being deployed to locate and apprehend the remaining individual. We will not rest until all those responsible are brought before the law.
“We also recognise the important role played by the Department of Community Safety in liaising. I know that because we said we want the perpetrators to rot in jail, the criminals to rot in jail.
“Through the community safety structure here in Mandeni, we have, through our local team in the office, put together an affidavit and collected signatures so that we'll oppose bail in court because we are serious about curbing such heartless and ruthless acts in our province.
The victims’ ages range from the 20s to the 80s -- four women and three men.
Their bodies were found dumped in a field in Melmoth on Thursday morning.
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They had been shot and stabbed.
Three people have been arrested in connection with the murders after they were found in possession of two cell phones belonging to the victims.
Police have also recovered a firearm believed to have been used to commit the crime.
The youngest woman, 20 years old, was allegedly raped at the house before the family was tied up and forced into their van to take the two-hour trip to their deaths. There, the woman was raped again.
The motive for the attack is still under investigation, but it is suspected that two of the alleged killers were at some point employed by the family.
At the funeral, mourners said life would not be the same following this tragedy, and that the family would always be remembered for being deeply rooted in their faith.